


Stay For As Long As You Have Time

by abrodkin



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Smut, french teacher levi aka wow such a cliche, if you squint eren has a slight size kink ha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-12
Updated: 2013-10-12
Packaged: 2017-12-29 05:35:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1001623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrodkin/pseuds/abrodkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was on these benches and paths that he spent most of his time, wandering around and letting the wind take him wherever he so chose. Mikasa had always scolded him for doing this; after all, she said, wandering around the school at night wasn’t the safest thing to do. But it was daytime when Eren first saw him, so she had no right to criticize.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay For As Long As You Have Time

**Author's Note:**

> UPDATE 11/29/2015: This fic is two years old. I'm really thankful for the attention it has gotten, but I'll just say that something you should be aware of before you read is that I wrote this when I was sixteen years old. So if things seem unrealistic or awkwardly written, you can blame that on my lack of experience with life/etc at the time of writing. That being said, I hope you (whoever you are) enjoy this work.

They met in the fall. Perfect, really, since it was their favourite season. Eren had always thought he was blessed to have such a nice campus for university; the benches in the park were well kept after, and there were trees lining cobblestone paths that led to and from the buildings.

It was on these benches and paths that he spent most of his time, wandering around and letting the wind take him wherever he so chose. Mikasa had always scolded him for doing this; after all, she said, wandering around the school at night wasn’t the safest thing to do. But it was daytime when Eren first saw him, so she had no right to criticize.

Rounding a corner, he gazed upon the old brick of the building and continued to walk along the worn paths, admiring the scenery. The leaves had turned orange, red, and yellow; as such, they were littering the paths. No one bothered to sweep them into piles; after all, they would just get ruined. So the leaves flew freely in the wind, going in every which direction.

A particular leaf had caught Eren’s attention that day. He had sat down by a tree, taking out a notebook when it caught his eye. He had never seen a leaf quite as red; it was almost like oxidized blood with how bright it was. The leaf flitted across the park without a care in the world, and Eren watched it do so. Eventually, it landed in the hair of a man slumped over a textbook, sitting at one of the pristine benches. Eren couldn’t help but laugh quietly to himself; after all, the man had no idea that the leaf was stuck in his hair. And Eren found the image quite beautiful, as well. The red of the leaf contrasted with the black of the man’s hair so starkly, and it was something that Eren had only seen in paintings.

Eventually, the man noticed the leaf stuck in his hair and scowled, picking it out and flinging it into the wind. It flew around carelessly, and Eren watched as the leaf made its home beside him. Eren picked it up and smiled; he put it in between the pages of his notebook and got up, putting the notebook back in his messenger bag. He got up, glancing back at the man he had seen before. The man’s nose was still buried in a textbook, and Eren saw someone walk over to the man and grab his shoulders. The man instantly jumped, lifting up his head to scrutinize his friend.

Eren was immediately taken aback by the man’s face. It was breathtaking; his skin was impossibly pale, and he had thin eyebrows that had almost no arch to them. It was like he was perpetually angered; his expression was pulled into a scowl as he opened his mouth to talk to his friend.

“Hanji, scare me again and I’ll rip those shitty glasses off of your face." 

“Oh, come on, you know you don’t mind. Whatcha studying?”

Eren smiled to himself and started to walk back to the university building. The man’s interaction with his friend had reminded him of how he acted when he was angry with Armin or Mikasa, and how he acted when he was always around Jean. But Jean deserved it; he was a prick.

Eren stole a quick glance back to the man and saw that the man was looking at him. He was ignoring his friend’s banter, instead focusing his intense glare on Eren. Though Eren didn’t find it unnerving- most people would have, but Eren didn’t mind in the slightest. Maybe he had heard Eren laughing to himself earlier and thought he was weird. Oh well. Eren pushed open the door to the university building and slipped inside, closing the door behind him.

 

* * *

 

The next time Eren returned to the paths and trees, it was nighttime, and no one was there. It made sense, though; typically, no one hung out at university on Sundays, especially not at 10 PM. The weather was particularly chilly; as such, Eren was bundled up in a North Face jacket and red scarf. Normally he wouldn’t have brought out his winter attire so early on in the year, but it seemed as thought the town he now lived in was cruel with the cold. 

He had gone out to coffee with Mikasa and Armin just a few hours earlier, and what they had said had gotten to his head, making him wander around the university grounds. The crisp air helped him to clear his mind of what had been said, and Eren was thankful for it.

_“You’ll probably never see him again, you know,” Armin said, taking a sip from his cup._

_“Is it wrong of me for hoping I will, though?”_

_Mikasa sighed. “No. But there’s 50,000 people at our school, remember? You don’t even know what program the guy was in, or his schedule. I’m sorry, Eren.”_

_“Whatever.”_

_Armin gave him a small smile. “Who knows, though? Red is the colour of passion, right? Maybe it was a sign?”_

Eren sighed. No, it certainly wasn’t a sign. Just because he found someone so beautiful it took his breath away didn’t mean they were meant to be. Nor did having said person stare at him meant they were bound to meet again. Though Eren didn’t want to give up hope. He was too stubborn about these sorts of things, according to Armin. Still, he let his stubbornness control him for a little while longer.

It was a good thing that Eren was stubborn, as the sight that greeted him as he rounded the corner was a good one. The man in question was sitting at the same bench he had been at before, slightly illuminated by the light of the many lamps in the area. Eren felt a smile tugging at his lips as he made his way over to the man, but before he could say anything, he stopped in his tracks. No, just going over there would be creepy, he decided. He needed to find an excuse to talk to the man.

He scanned the man quickly before seeing a small light illuminating the pages of the book he was holding. Eren didn’t know what it said, but he quickly deduced that it was in French due to the accents gracing the letters of the title. Huh. He didn’t take the man for someone to read in a romantic language.

“Hey, you. Stop staring, it’s creepy.”

Eren nearly jumped out of his skin at the comment; it had taken him by surprise. The man had an annoyed expression on his face, and Eren watched as he sighed and closed his book.

“Are you going to continue to be a creep or are you going to come over here? I don’t have all night, you know.”

Eren gulped and made his way over to the man, burying his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he did so. He quietly cursed himself for not bringing gloves; the weather was frigid, and his breath was showing up in white puffs, similar to cigarette smoke. He got to the bench where the man was sitting and slowly sat down, refusing to meet the man’s eyes.

“Oh. You were staring at me the other day too, weren’t you?” Eren nodded. “Don’t you know it isn’t courteous to do that? Didn’t your mother teach you better?”

“My mother is dead,” Eren said softly.

The man’s expression softened. “Sorry.”

The air was silent, and Eren looked up from his lap to see the man bring his book back up to his face.

“…I’m sorry for staring. I mean, earlier and now. It’s just, before, there was this leaf, and it almost looked like the colour of blood… And it got in your hair, so I found that funny. And today, I just found it interesting that your book is in French.”

The man looked up, smirking slightly. “Well, I _am_ a French major. You wanna learn something?”

Eren smiled. “Sure!”

“Say, ‘je suis un crétin.’”

“Je suis un crétin,” Eren repeated. “What does that mean?”

“’I am a moron.’”

Eren huffed as the man chuckled quietly. “That wasn’t very nice!”

“Well, it isn’t very nice to stare, so now we’re even.”

Eren smiled slightly. “I never introduced myself, did I? I’m Eren, Eren Jaeger.” He stuck out his hand.

The man stared at Eren’s hand for a few seconds before grasping it in his own. “Levi.”

 

* * *

 

It was by no means a pleasant day. Snow had been falling down in sheets for the past week or so, and they were getting the brunt of it on Christmas Eve. Eren was angry; after all, he was supposed to have met Levi at the coffee house near campus that day. But seeing as he couldn’t get his car out of its parking space, he was forced to call Levi and cancel. He had been met with an exasperated sigh, in typical Levi fashion.

Eren had opted to stay at school for his Winter break, so he had gotten together with Levi at almost any chance he could take. Mikasa was staying with her friend Annie for a few days, and Armin had gone back to their hometown for the break, which left Eren alone in his dorm. As such, he wanted to get out and not be bored. So he and Levi had been doing simple little things together. And Eren was pissed off that some stupid snow had thrown off his new state of contentment.

Over the past two months of knowing each other, Eren had also begun to feel something other than friendship towards Levi. It was stupid; he couldn’t have a crush on Levi, not when he knew that Levi would probably never reciprocate his feelings. He wasn’t even sure if Levi was interested in men, although he hadn’t seen Levi hanging out with women, really. Still, why would Levi be interested in a lowly freshman such as Eren while he was a senior? Why would he want to taint his last year of university with romance? It didn’t seem like there was any chance for Eren.

Still, Armin had persuaded him to confess his feelings to Levi sometime over the Winter break. Levi didn’t have any family to go home to, so he was staying at his apartment near the university, which was perfect. Eren didn’t have a definitive plan in his mind for confessing, though, so he figured he would just let the break play out on its own. Though he felt butterflies in his stomach whenever he hung out with Levi, he suppressed them enough to appear normal whenever they were together.

He heard the knock on his door while he was watching the student news network, and got up with a sigh to open it. On the other side was Levi, his mouth set into a hard line. Levi huffed before walking into the dorm room and knocking his boots on the towel Eren had set down in front of the door.

“Did you walk?” Eren asked.

Levi nodded. “The coffee shop was fucking closed, too. If it gets too bad, I’ll stay the night, ok?” He took off his black pea coat and handed it to Eren. “Don’t just throw it on the ground like you usually do, this one was expensive.”

Eren put the coat in his tiny closet and walked over to Levi, who had slumped onto Eren’s worn out couch and immediately changed the channel to the old movie network. Eren sat down next to him, and they sat in silence for a few minutes and watched the actors in black and white speak with grainy tones about love and the future.

“Did you want something?” Eren asked quietly.

“No, I’m fine. You make shit tea anyways.”

They continued to watch the movie in silence. After about a half hour, the heroine was in a captivating embrace, held tightly by the male lead in a dipped position.

_“I will always love you.”_

_“My love, the planets revolve around you.”_

Eren giggled, and Levi narrowed his eyes at him. “You think it’s funny?”

“It’s just… You don’t hear people talking like that nowadays.”

“Nothing is romantic anymore. I would love it if I were talked to like that.”

Huh. So Levi had a penchant for romantic talk. Eren turned back to the movie. They continued to watch until the credits rolled, old time Jazz pouring through the speakers.

“I’m going to make myself tea,” Levi said, making a move to get up from the couch.

Eren grabbed Levi’s arm, pulling him back down. _This is it. This is my moment._ Levi sighed loudly. “What?”

“Levi… If the sun suddenly burst, I would gladly protect you.”

Levi’s eyes narrowed even further than before. “What the fuck are you saying?”

Eren sighed, letting go of Levi’s arm. “You said you liked old time romantic talk, right? I’m trying to do that.”

“Why?”

“I like you, Levi. I like you a lot and I would really be happy if you liked me back.” Levi was silent. Eren took this as a cue to continue on. “When I first saw you, that day at the bench, I thought you were so breathtakingly beautiful, and it was like you were the only one there. And when you made me call myself a moron in French, I thought that was adorable. So what I’m saying is that… What I’m saying is that I want you to be my boyfriend.”

Levi parted his lips, and then closed them again. “You want me to be your boyfriend?” he said after a minute.

“Yes.”

Levi brought his hand up to Eren’s face, softly stroking along his jawline before leaning in and resting his forehead against Eren’s. “Is that a yes?” Eren asked quietly.

Levi responded by pressing his lips to Eren’s softly. They stayed like that for what seemed like forever; likely, it was less than a minute. Levi was the one to pull away, taking a shallow breath in before kissing Eren again.

After a while, they broke apart again. “You know,” Levi said, smirking slightly, “tomorrow is my birthday.”

“Your birthday is on Christmas?”

“Unfortunate, isn’t it?”

Eren pressed his lips to Levi’s quickly before pulling away and smiling. “It’ll be the best one yet, I can tell.”

 

* * *

 

Eren let out a breathy moan as his cock was engulfed in tight, wet heat. _God,_ he practically died every time Levi did this to him. Maybe that’s why the French called it “la petite mort,” or “the little death,” when someone came. Though Eren wasn’t close yet, not at all.

“Levi, Levi, _Levi,_ ” he practically hummed.

“Shut up, I’m not done with you.”

Eren moaned even louder after Levi uttered those words to him. Not only were they in a sultrier tone Levi had only cared to use in bed, but they had been slightly muffled by Eren’s cock, which made it even hotter to him.

Levi pulled off him unceremoniously and blindly grabbed the bottle of lube he had put on top of his night table earlier, opening it and coating his fingers liberally. He sneered at the mess it made before leaning down to Eren and kissing him roughly.

“Do you think two will be enough?” he whispered in Eren’s ear.

Eren grabbed Levi’s hair and brought him back in to his lips, practically biting down and all the while guiding Levi’s fingers with his other hand to his entrance. Levi gently prodded around for a few seconds before sinking the first finger in, almost to the knuckle. Before Eren could even react, Levi started to wiggle and curl the finger around, searching for that one spot that made Eren practically melt in his arms.

He found it after he slipped the second finger in. After curling his fingers towards Eren’s stomach a few times, he brushed Eren’s prostate lightly, causing Eren to practically scream right in his ear. Levi chuckled lightly, kissing Eren to quiet him down.

“I have neighbours, you know…” he said lightly against Eren’s mouth.

Eren brought Levi back flush to his lips, snaking his tongue into Levi’s mouth for a few aching seconds before pulling apart. “Fuck the neighbours. That old fart and fucking Shadis can go to hell right now.” Levi responded by thrusting his fingers into Eren roughly a few times. Eren practically mewled. “Come on, just fuck me already.”

“Gladly.”

Levi pulled out his fingers and once again reached for the night table, grabbing the condom that had been resting there. He also grabbed a tissue, wiping his fingers off before ripping open the condom packet and tossing the tissue and packaging towards the garbage basket near his bed. Gently, he rolled the condom over his cock and grabbed the bottle of lube again, pouring some onto the condom and messily coating it. Again, he grabbed Eren’s hair roughly and brought him up to his lips, biting down before claiming them with his own. Eren moaned loudly, taking Levi’s cock in his hand and guiding it towards his entrance.

“Please,” Eren whimpered.

Levi obliged by parting Eren’s cheeks with one hand and guiding his cock towards Eren’s entrance with the hand that had been grabbing Eren’s hair. He pressed his cock onto Eren, and then started to push in, groaning lowly as Eren took his length without any problems.

It hadn’t been like that the first time they fucked. Eren had only bottomed once or twice before dating Levi, and had tried to take control before Levi had growled and taken dominance. Eren had been a trooper, but it had obviously been painful for him, as the few times he had bottomed were few and far between. But now, Eren was almost always the bottom when it came to sex. It turned out that he preferred it to topping which was fine by Levi.

Once Levi’s length was fully inside Eren, he wasted no time and started to thrust up into Eren, causing Eren to moan in time with each of his thrusts. Levi, who was usually quiet when it came to sex, let out a light moan after a particularly deep thrust that had brushed Eren’s prostate and caused Eren to clench around him. Levi’s thrusts sped up and he adjusted his angle, bringing Eren’s legs up to hang over his shoulders as he continued to practically mow into Eren.

“Fuck, fuck, _Levi…_ ” Eren’s voice was practically guttural. “ _I need more._ ”

Quickly, Eren took one of Levi’s hands and brought it to his entrance, separating Levi’s index finger from the rest of them and bringing it to the place where they were connected. Levi stopped thrusting, confused.

“What?”

“J-just… Put your finger in there, _god…_ ”

So far, sex had been relatively vanilla with Eren and Levi. Though Levi had a penchant for sexting Eren during class of all the things he wanted to do to him, they had never really acted upon Levi’s claims. Eren had stumbled across Levi’s stash of kinky items during a study session at his apartment once, but had never mentioned it to Levi out of embarrassment. Taking the lead with such things was completely out of character for him.

Levi gulped and nodded before reaching for the lube again and squeezing a tiny amount onto his finger. He rubbed it around before bringing it to Eren’s entrance, and with some pressure, started to slide it in. Eren let out the loudest moan Levi had ever heard from him, nails clawing into Levi’s back and almost breaking the skin.

“Move, _please,_ Levi, _fuck…_ ”

And so Levi did, moving his finger in time with his thrusts. After a few minutes of doing this, he got tired, his hand hurting after trying to keep in time with the hard pounding of his hips. He removed his finger from Eren and continued to roughly thrust into him, causing Eren to practically vibrate with pleasure.

After a while longer, it got to be too much for Eren, who unceremoniously grabbed his cock and started pumping, hand moving in time with Levi’s thrusts. Levi joined him, moving both of their hands together over Eren’s cock, both of them moaning loudly and not holding back.

“Levi, I’m gonna-“

Eren couldn’t even get the full sentence out before he came, the liquid spurting up onto his and Levi’s stomachs. He let out a deep breath that he hadn’t even realized he was holding before looking up at Levi, who was scowling lightly.

“Couldn’t be more careful?”

“Shut up and finish, asshole.”

Eren pulled Levi down towards him, connecting their mouths as Levi continued to thrust in a frenzy into Eren. When his thrusts became sloppier, Eren knew that he was about to come. Within a few seconds, Levi let out a high-pitched whine into Eren’s mouth before spilling over, thrusting into Eren the whole time. After a little while, he stuttered and stopped, letting himself fall onto Eren’s chest. He kissed Eren’s chest as he pulled out, pulling the condom off of himself, tying it in a knot and throwing it towards the garbage basket. Levi snuggled into the curve of Eren’s neck, his breathing even.

“Levi?”

“Yes?” he yawned, kissing Eren’s neck lazily.

“I love you.”

Levi paused. They had never said those words to each other. Even though they had been in a relationship for three months, the subject had never come up, though Levi assumed that those were Eren’s feelings.

“Are you saying that because I just gave you the best fuck of your life?” Levi joked lightly, again snuggling into the curve of Eren’s neck.

“Oh, shut up. I really do love you.”

Levi looked up at Eren before lightly connecting their mouths. “I love you too, Eren.”

  


* * *

  


Moonlight streamed through the trees and illuminated the path before Eren and Levi, who walked along it, holding hands. It was May, and Eren was two weeks away from graduating university. Levi had graduated teacher’s college the year before, and was about to finish his year of being a TA at the high school nearby before becoming a full-fledged French teacher.

Eren had lived in the dorms throughout his whole time at the university. To him, they were home; Armin lived there, Mikasa lived there, and Levi was only about five minutes away. He still wasn’t sure of exactly what he was going to do once he graduated, or where he was going to live, but he figured that tonight was the night to figure that out.  

_“Do you know where you’re going to live?” Mikasa asked him, flipping through a textbook._

_“No, not really. I figured I could probably just crash with you or Armin for a few weeks while I get my shit together, you know?”_

_Mikasa closed the textbook with a sigh. “Eren… How long have you and Levi been together?”_

_“Um… It’ll be four years on Christmas Eve. Why?” he asked, confused._

_“I’m… Everyone is kind of worried, Eren.”_

_“About what, Mikasa?”_

_“Why haven’t you moved in together yet?” she said quietly. “You love each other, right? Isn’t that a typical thing to do?”_

_Eren paused to contemplate her words. “It hasn’t ever really come up, I guess. We’ve just been preoccupied.”_

_“Well, he lives right near campus. It wouldn’t be that far of a stretch to just move in with him. And he lives close to his work, too. It wouldn’t be that hard for you to get a job near here.”_

_“Mikasa…” Eren sighed, scratching his head. “I don’t know. Like I said, we’ve never talked about it, and I’m just not sure if he even wants me there.”_

_“You stay over often enough. It’s like you practically live there already. And it’s not like he doesn’t have room, right? It’s a two bedroom apartment, there’s plenty of space for you.”_

_Eren was quiet. No, the subject had never come up, but he had often thought about his future with Levi. He knew that he wanted to be with Levi for the rest of his life, no, even longer than that. He loved Levi with every fiber of his being; still, he had never brought up their future together. Levi had always had his future planned out: go to university, graduate, go to teachers college, graduate, do a year of TA, become a high school French teacher, and then a French university professor. Those plans hadn’t changed since Eren had come into his life; if anything, Eren just became a part of his plan. Stay with Eren: that was it._

_“I’ll talk to him about it. You’ll let me stay with you if he says no, right?” Eren said quietly._

_“Of course, dipshit. You’re my brother.”_

Eren guided them towards a bench that was illuminated by lamplight, sitting down with Levi following suit. They were both silent as Eren leaned down to lay his head on Levi’s shoulder. Levi kissed Eren’s hair lightly.

“You know which bench this is, don’t you?” Eren asked quietly.

“Of course I do. We met here, didn’t we?”

Eren nodded. “Levi… I have a question for you.”

“Mmhmm?” Levi mumbled into Eren’s hair.

“Why haven’t we talked about the future?”

Levi lifted his head up, Eren following suit. His eyes were practically unreadable, his lips set in a thin line. Eren lifted his hand up to Levi’s cheek, stroking it lightly.

“I’m graduating in two weeks, Levi.” Eren waited for a second before continuing. “And I was talking to Mikasa the other day about what my plans were. I don’t know what job I’m going to get, or where I’m going to live, but all I know is that I want to be with you for as long as humanly possible. I love you, Levi. I love you so much. And that’s why I think we should talk about this.”

Levi let out a soft sigh. “Alright.”

Eren pressed his lips to Levi’s lightly for a minute before pulling away and smiling. “You’re staying here, obviously.” Levi nodded. “And I want to stay with you. I know there are a lot of places in the area looking for people to work, so getting a job wouldn’t be the biggest issue. It’s that I wouldn’t have a place to live, you know? So I’m thinking… Maybe we should move in together.”

Eren waited, looking into Levi’s eyes to see if they had any readability. As usual, they didn’t. Eren felt his heart drop at Levi’s silence.

“Levi?”

He still didn’t speak, rather, his grip on Eren’s hand tightened considerably, causing Eren to yelp.

“Asshole… Why did you say maybe?” Levi said, sighing.

“Isn’t that normal? People usually say maybe when they aren’t sure of a reaction, you know.”

“Yeah, well, be more blunt next time. What did you think I was going to say?”

Eren gulped, lowering his gaze to their connected hands. “I thought that you were going to break up with me. You’ve always said how you have your entire future planned out, right? So I was thinking that I was maybe a distraction towards your goals, that I would get in the way of you getting what you wanted.”

“Oh, Eren.”

Levi brought his free hand up to Eren’s cheek, pulling him in and pressing their lips together. They stayed like that for a while, and Levi felt slight wetness sprinkle the crown of his head. He broke apart from Eren and looked up to see tears rolling down his face.

“Why are you crying?” he asked, wiping away the tears.

“I was just scared, Levi.”

Levi kissed him again. “I can’t believe that you seriously thought I was gonna break up with you because you would get in the way of my plans. I wouldn’t have stuck around if that was the case.”

Levi brought their lips together once more, forcing Eren’s mouth open and slipping his tongue inside Eren’s mouth. They stayed connected like this for a while, breathing through their noses, never once letting go of each other’s hands. Eren was the one to break the kiss apart, a smile ghosting his lips.

“Would you like to move in with me, Eren?” Levi asked, gripping Eren’s hand even tighter than before.

Eren nodded, wrapping his free arm around Levi and burying his head in Levi’s shoulder, his own shoulders moving up and down with the happy tears that had come over him. Levi hugged him back, pressing a kiss to Eren’s head and mumbling “I love you” into his hair.

 

* * *

 

“Settle down, settle down. God, you obnoxious brats are just so eager to get out of school for two weeks, aren’t you?” Levi waited as his class of anxious Freshmen finished their conversations and turned to face him in their seats. “Good. I want you to turn to your desk partner and talk about someone very important to you. In French, not English, please. Figure it out for yourself if you don’t have a partner. You have ten minutes.”

The chairs scraped across the floor as his class turned to face their partners, some of them eager to share, others not so much. Levi went to his desk and pulled out the black leather binder he used to plan out his days, slamming it down on the desk and flipping through the pages to the lesson plan. After looking at it for a few seconds, he closed the binder, pushing it to the opposite corner of the desk and taking out his phone.

He opened the photo application and started to scroll through, sighing as he did so. Since he didn’t have a permanent desk, he couldn’t keep pictures with him, which was why he was always seen with his phone during the brief breaks he had in class. Nobody questioned this; if they did, they were met with a look so venomous it made them retreat back into themselves like a meek turtle.

Sooner than later, the ten minutes were up. Levi sighed, pocketing his phone and returning to the front of the classroom.

“Alright,” he barked. “Who wants to share?”

A boy with a crew cut named Connie raised his hand. Levi nodded at him to start speaking. “Well, Monsieur, I talked about Sasha.” He turned his head and nodded to the brown haired girl sitting beside him, who blushed. “She’s been my best bud forever, so obviously she’s really important to me.”

“And you, Sasha?”

“Well,” she said quietly. “I talked about Connie.”

A few other brave souls took their turns before one of the girls at the front of the class boldly raised her hand. “Yes, Ymir?”

“Who would you have talked about, Monsieur Levi?”

The rest of the class fell silent, their quiet chatter stopping almost immediately. None of them had ever dared ask Levi a personal question. They had heard horror stories from the grades above them spreading rumors about how Levi was like a military official- strict and harsh, giving no remorse.

Levi sighed quietly. “Well, Ymir, since you asked so boldly… I would have talked about my partner.”

“Your partner, Monsieur?”

Levi nodded, his expression softening slightly. “His name is Eren. We’ve been together for about nine years now, so since I was a Senior at university and he was a Freshman. We’ve lived together for about five years at our apartment, which is about a half hour away from here. And,” he paused, smirking to himself. “Et il ne m'a jamais déçu au lit.”

“What does that mean?” Connie whispered to Sasha, who shrugged her shoulders.

“You’ll have to find out for yourself,” Levi said, voice booming. “Now! Onto masculine and feminine suffixes!”

 

* * *

 

The two-week winter break had gone successfully, in Levi’s opinion. He and Eren had gone to visit Mikasa in New York, where she had moved after graduating university. Also staying with them was Armin, who was still in medical school.

They had gone to the Rockefeller Center at midnight on December 23rd, the day before Eren and Levi’s ninth anniversary and two days before Levi’s 31st birthday. Afterwards, they had gone to a shoddy bar, similar to what Eren, Mikasa and Armin had done during their early university days. They had drunk themselves into a stupor that night, eventually tumbling into a cab and going back to Mikasa’s apartment.

On Christmas Eve, Eren and Levi checked themselves into a hotel in Times Square for two nights. It’s not that they had been tired of staying with Mikasa, but they had wanted privacy for those two important days. After all, nine years was a long time, so they wanted to be alone together for once. 31 years was also a milestone, but not one that Levi was very happy about. Still, getting the hotel room was extremely worthwhile. When they had checked out on Boxing Day, and Mikasa had come to pick them up, they were greeted with a knowing smirk and a shaking head.

They had stayed in New York until January 2nd, two days before Eren and Levi were scheduled to go back to work. Eren had looked and felt depressed the day they left; after all, it wasn’t like he could see Mikasa and Armin often. But he had cherished the time he had with them, and knew the time would fly by before he could see them again.

Upon returning to his school, Levi was bombarded with questions, most of them coming from his students. He liked his students, yes, but sometimes he felt as if they were a little bit _too_ insistent on getting to know him and what he was like.

“Did you have a good break, Monsieur Levi?” a girl named Christa asked.

“Yes, it was fine.”

She looked sad. “Just fine?”

“It was good. I went to New York with my partner to visit his sister, and one of his friends stayed with us, too.”

Christa’s expression brightened. “Did you do anything fun while you were there?”

“We went to the Rockefeller Center to see the tree… The rest of the things we did aren’t things that I would feel comfortable saying in front of the class, unfortunately. But it was my 9th anniversary with my partner and my birthday, so I guess that was fun.”

Christa smiled and nodded, returning back to her seat. Levi waited for the chatter of the class to quiet down before slamming a stack of papers down onto his desk and scraping his chair back, moving to the front of the classroom.

“Bonjour, la classe. Turn to your desk partner and discuss your winter breaks, in French, please. You have ten minutes.”

He watched as the class eagerly turned to their partners and started chatting to each other. As usual, Levi went back to his desk and pulled out his phone, going to the photo application to look at pictures from his trip. He smiled lightly at the pictures of himself and Eren that Mikasa had gotten incognito, stealing his phone while they had been walking through Central Park, holding hands.

All too quickly, the ten minutes was up, and Levi went back to the front of the classroom. “Now,” he said, voice booming with authority. “Who wants to share?”

Ymir raised her hand with a slight smirk on her face, and Levi nodded at her, signaling her to start. “I hung out with Christa almost every day. But what about you, Monsieur? Did you do anything exciting?”

The rest of the class tittered nervously while Levi furrowed his eyebrows. “Why do you ask?”

“Because, Monsieur, you were smiling for once while looking at your phone.”

The quiet conversation stopped. No one had ever seen Levi smile, not even when he was in the presence of Erwin, the principal of the school and one of Levi’s best friends. They had spread rumours that he didn’t even have emotions. Though that wasn’t true; he had talked about Eren with emotion in his words before, and had answered questions about his university days fondly, though never smiling.

“Well, Ymir, maybe you shouldn’t stick your nose where it isn’t welcome. You’ll have five extra pages of homework tonight.”

Ymir sighed while Levi went back to his desk, grabbing the stack of papers he had slammed on the desk before and giving a few to the students sitting at the front of the class to hand backwards. He waited as they were passed around, and until all of their eyes were on him before speaking.

“In case you were wondering,” he said, leaning back against the chalkboard. “My break was good. I was smiling because I was looking at pictures from my trip to New York that I made with my partner. Now, if you would, try and complete that worksheet. It’s fairly simple.”

Ymir only smirked to herself before grabbing a pen and getting to work.

 

* * *

 

The weather in their town always turned warmer by the middle of March, and that year was no exception. Barren trees slowly turned green, slush melted to show wet grass, and the wind no longer blew against the trees with the harsh rattle they had all grown accustomed to.

Levi was already well into the second semester of the school year, and as such, he had new classes to teach. There were a few familiar faces; students from the years previous who, for some reason, had decided to continue with their French education. Levi couldn’t blame them- after all, he had been one of those kids back when he was in high school.

He was surprised when he saw Christa show up in the beginning French class; “I know that I only did as well as I did because Ymir helped me,” she had explained. “I wanted to prove that I could do it on my own. I’m smart, I’ve always been told that I’m smart, and I want to take your class next year, too.” He had accepted this with a nod, waving her over to her old seat from the semester before and getting started with the lesson.

Now, into the second semester, he was accustomed to the faces in his classes and the names that went with them. And he found himself liking the majority of his students, which was a rare occurrence. Ever since Ymir had slightly cracked his harsh exterior the semester before with her overly personal questions, Levi was gaining a different reputation; that no, he was not a monster like everyone thought, just highly intrapersonal and unwilling to share details for the most part.

The class he had third period (freshmen including Christa) had secured a fonder spot in his heart. In fact, it was the class he looked forward to the most during the day, besides fifth period when he was just eager to get home and see Eren. The third period class had managed to get more out of him than any other class he had taught in his six years of being at that school. They had managed to get him to talk about Eren even more so than Ymir had, prying out of him the details of how they met, when they moved in with each other, all those kinds of things. It didn’t help that the class was made of primarily females, and the few males that were in the class were particularly chatty as well. Though the student he held in the most regard was Christa. It seemed she had a certain charm to her; while acting as lunch monitor, he had heard her friends call her “goddess,” and always noticed that she had people complimenting her on her kind nature. Though she could be feisty as well. When a boy got too frisky with her, she wasn’t one to hesitate before acting. He had once had to break up a fight between her and someone who had insulted Ymir on her tomboy-ish appearance. Needless to say, Levi was happy to have her in another one of his classes.

“Do you have anything special planned for this month, Monsieur?” Christa asked during a work break. As usual, she had finished the work early. Levi was always impressed with her work; even without the help of Ymir, she was excelling in the class, placing in the top ten highest marks.

“It’s Eren’s birthday in about two weeks, though it’s on a Sunday, so more than likely we’ll just do something on the Saturday and hang around the house on the actual day. I don’t have anything else planned, really.”

“No?” Her eyes quickly adopted a sad look.

“Is anything wrong, Christa?”

“Well, Monsieur Levi… It’s just, you talk about your partner i-“

“You can call him Eren, we talk about him a lot already, so it isn’t like he’s a foreign subject.”

Christa blinked in surprise before continuing. “You talk about… Eren… In such a high regard all the time, Monsieur. It seems like he’s your world, isn’t he?” Levi nodded. “And it just surprised me when you came back from winter break and nothing had happened.”

“Nothing had happened? What’re you saying?” His eyes narrowed.

Christa looked alarmed. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, Monsieur Levi! It’s just that we can all tell you love him a lot, right?” The class had stopped working by then, conversations halting and all eyes focusing on Christa and Levi. “So, we were all wondering… Were you ever going to get married to Eren?”

A stream of air left Levi’s mouth as he crossed his arms and leaned back on the chalkboard and closed his eyes. They flitted open after a few seconds, and he took a deep breath in before nodding.

“I do plan on it.”

“But have you thought about it? Recently?” Levi stayed silent. “I know we’re just your students, Monsieur, but we do care about you. All the people who have had you as a teacher say that you always look sad, and that’s true, it really is. But you seem happy when you talk about Eren, really, truly happy. And I think everyone, myself included, would love to see you happy like that all the time.”

Levi breathed deeply through his nose for a few seconds before getting up from his leaning position. “I don’t think this subject is very appropriate for a teacher to be talking about with their students. Get to work, please,” he said quietly.

The class looked at each other with sad eyes before turning back to their worksheets, quiet conversation starting once again. Christa in particular looked incredibly sad, which made Levi’s heart ache. He hadn’t meant to sadden them. He himself didn’t know what he was doing.

When the bell rang to signal the next period, Levi slowly gathered his papers and slipped them into the black leather binder sitting on his desk, putting that binder into the messenger bag he took with him to work every day. When he looked up, he saw Christa standing meekly in front of the desk, hands playing with the straps on her backpack.

“I’m sorry for intruding on your personal life, Monsieur Levi. It won’t happen again.”

She turned to leave. “Christa?” She stopped, turning back to Levi. “I’ll think about it.”

Christa’s eyes lit up as she smiled meekly, turning quickly to dash to her next class.

 

* * *

 

Eren and Levi were snuggled on the couch in their living room, with Levi lying on top of Eren, nose pressed to his chest. The old time movie channel had been on for hours already, and initially, Eren and Levi had started the night sitting on the couch, hands both reaching for the popcorn in between them. Eventually, the bowl of popcorn had been knocked off the couch, which lead to them lying in their current position, bowl knocked onto its side on the floor.

“28,” Eren whispered with a sigh.

“28.”

Levi slid up, running his hands through Eren’s hair and bringing his lips to Eren’s. While Eren’s eyes closed, Levi’s stayed open, observing Eren’s face. If anything, the nearly ten years he had known Eren had made him more attractive. It was a miracle that no wrinkles graced his face; the only signs that Eren had aged was because he had a more mature air about him, and that he had grown a few more inches to just scrape five foot ten, much to Levi’s displeasure.

Although that day was the actual date of Eren’s birthday, they had celebrated it the night before, going out to dinner at one of the fancier restaurants in the area before going to an amusement park that had popped up temporarily around the university for a benefit they seemed to be having. Levi had planned it to be as cliché as possible; at midnight, they were sat at the top of the Ferris wheel, looking out over the city.

_“Happy birthday,” Levi said quietly. He looked towards Eren, who had a goofy smile on his face as he reached out to grip Levi’s hand._

_“You planned this, didn’t you? God, you’re cheesy.”_

_“You should have known that already, though.”_

_Eren nodded, smile still gracing his face. “I did.”_

_He let out a quiet sigh, tilting his head and lowering it so it could rest on Levi’s shoulder. With his free hand, Eren reached out to stroke the side of Levi’s face, and then moved his head so he could kiss Levi’s neck._

_“I love you,” he murmured softly._

_“That wasn’t much of a kiss, was it?” Levi said, smirking._

_Eren brought his head back up before putting his hand in Levi’s hair and pulling him in, pressing their lips together. They stayed attached like this for a while, until the Ferris wheel jolted and their teeth clacked together. Eren broke apart from Levi, laughing as he laid their foreheads together._

_“You wanna go home after this?” Levi asked, a rare smile gracing him._

_Eren nodded with a laugh as he brought his lips back to Levi’s._

They had gone back to their apartment after their night at the amusement park and promptly fell into bed, hands desperately grabbing at each other’s coats and pants. Levi was in awe of how Eren could be utterly perfect nearly ten years down the line. Levi had always thought Eren was too amazing to be real; despite his flaws, he was the perfect person for Levi, his playful nature balancing out Levi’s almost cold one, while Levi’s stoic state balanced out Eren’s anger.

Eren had woken up late Sunday morning to the sound of the Food Network playing faintly in the kitchen. He walked into the kitchen to see Levi, fully nude except for the apron tied around his front, scraping a spatula across a pan. Eren had laughed loudly before going over to Levi, burying his head in Levi’s shoulder and lightly kissing him as laughs wracked his body.

They had decided to spend the day inside. It wasn’t worth it to do anything exciting, they thought, due to the fact that they both had to wake up early for work. They had spent the day lounging around the house, doing the odd task, generally just staying together and going through their everyday rituals. Eventually, they had ended up back in their bedroom, the sound of skin on skin echoing throughout the apartment.

They had ordered in Chinese food, reminiscent of their time in university where they would order from the same place whenever they had study sessions. After, Levi had presented Eren with a small cake, and Eren blushed so deeply that Levi could swear he had seen steam rising from Eren’s cheeks.

_“Happy birthday to you,” Levi sang, voice wobbling._

_Eren laughed. “Thank you.”_

_“Make a wish, before they burn out.”_

_Eren reached across the table to grab Levi’s hand, who rubbed his thumb over Eren’s. Eren closed his eyes, deep in thought for about a minute before blowing out the candles. He opened his eyes again and smiled._

_“What did you wish for?” Levi asked quietly, bringing their joined hands up to his mouth before kissing Eren’s knuckles._

_“If I told you, it wouldn’t come true.”_

_Levi sighed, and then smirked against Eren’s hand, eyes closing. “I should know better, huh? You do this every year.”_

_“And every year since I met you, my wishes have come true.”_

After the cake, they retired to the couch in their living room, but not before popping a few bags of popcorn and emptying them into the blue bowl they usually used for popcorn. They had settled down into the cushions, and Levi subconsciously clicked onto the old time movies channel, which Eren had grown to enjoy over their years together.

Hours later, cuddling together, Levi turned his head to watch the screen and smiled when he saw what was playing.

_“I will always love you.”_

_“My love, the planets revolve around you.”_

Eren laughed, Levi feeling the vibrations in his chest. “Do you remember this movie?”

Levi tapped his fingers on Eren’s arm twice to signify nodding. “We started dating when we were watching this. How could I forget? I’m not _that_ old, you know.”

“I’m catching up to you, don’t forget that.”

“I won’t.”

Levi stayed still for the remainder of the movie, except for his hands, which wandered up Eren’s chest and torso and through his hair at almost all times. It was strangely relaxing to Eren. Even though it was barely 10 PM, he felt the kind of relaxation he usually felt after taking a long shower at 12 AM.

When the credits started to roll and Jazz started to play, Levi brought himself up from Eren and slid onto the floor, picking up the abandoned bowl and slowly standing up. He walked to the kitchen to put the bowl in the sink, and Eren turned to follow him.

“Stay there. I’m gonna give you your present now,” Levi said, putting his hands in the light sweater he was wearing.

“Didn’t you already give me my present?” Eren waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Levi smirked, a light chuckle escaping his lips.

“A second present, then.”

Levi walked to their bedroom, retracting his hands from the sweater and watching as they shook. God, he was a wreck. He shakily opened the table on his side of the bed, knocking into the corner of the drawer recklessly.

“ _Fuck._ ”

“Levi, are you okay?” Eren yelled from the other room.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

He took what he was looking for out of the drawer and pocketed it, closing the drawer and taking a deep breath before walking out of the bedroom, through the kitchen, and back into the living room. Eren was sitting upright on the couch, hand on the remote, and turned the TV off almost instantly when he saw Levi approaching.

“Close your eyes, OK?” Levi asked once he got to the couch. Eren nodded, closing them promptly. “I’m gonna help you to stand, you need to be standing for this.”

“So you’re emphasizing our heights? Wow, Levi, I thought you would never let go of that,” Eren joked, smiling as he felt Levi grab his hand and guiding him upwards.

There were a few shuffling sounds before Levi said, “open your eyes.”

And open them Eren did. At first, he couldn’t see Levi, which was weird because even with their height differences, he could usually still see the top of Levi’s head when he was looking straight on. Finally, Eren looked down, his breath catching in his throat.

Levi was on one knee, a black leather box held in his hands and a nervous expression on his face. Eren watched as his adam’s apple bobbed before opening his mouth.

“Eren,” Levi said softly. “I’ve… I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately. I’ve been thinking about life, and the future, and everything in between. I knew that I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life and longer the minute you said that you loved me, and I knew that you felt the same when I asked you to move in to our home. With you, I’ve done what I never thought I could; make a place so barren feel full, and happy, and warm. And that’s not only our home; it’s my heart that feels like this.

“I guess what I’m saying is that I want to feel like that as long as I can. I want to feel the joy you bring, I want to feel the light you give to a room, and I want to be greedy and watch your eyes light up whenever I can. I want to see you at your happiest, and at your worst, and at every single possible emotion in between.” His voice cracked. “And-“ A tear leaked out of his eye. “And I want you to be greedy like that, too.”

Levi opened the box he held. “Will you marry me, Eren?”

Holding a hand to his mouth, Eren held out his other arm and grasped Levi, pulling him up from his kneeling position.

“I will.”

His voice was barely above a whisper, but that whisper caused Levi’s heart to surge and swell. Levi could barely feel himself as he swept Eren into his arms, wrapping them tightly around Eren’s torso and squeezing as hard as he could. Levi’s tears fell silently but freely, while sobs wracked Eren’s body.

He didn’t want to, but eventually Levi unwrapped his arms from around Eren and pulled the ring out of its box. Eren looked at it before smiling and unwrapping his arms from around Levi’s neck. Levi took Eren’s hand and slipped the ring on, and Eren brought it closer to his face to look at it properly.

It was a simple band, made out of dark coloured metal, save for the tiny strip in the middle that had six tiny black diamonds embedded into it. It was simple, and yet, it was perfect for Eren. Though they had never discussed marriage, Levi had known exactly what Eren had wanted.

Eren lowered his hand, wide grin taking over his expression before he wrapped Levi tightly in his arms again and buried his head in Levi’s shoulder. “I love you so much, I love you so much,” he said, muffled by Levi’s sweater.

Eventually, they broke apart from the hug to slump back down on their couch. After kissing like teenagers for a few minutes, Levi broke apart from Eren and grabbed his hand, pulling the finger that held the ring up to his face before sighing in content.

“Were you surprised?” he asked quietly.

“A little. I knew it was going to happen soon, though. Mikasa was talking to me about how impatient everyone was getting, and it would have made sense if she went to you to demand you propose,” Eren replied with a slight chuckle. “Still, my wish this year came true.”

“And what was that?”

“I wished that you would propose. Obviously, I’m a lucky guy.”

Levi leaned over, pulling Eren’s lips into a kiss for a few seconds before breaking apart and leaning their foreheads together. “No,” he said, bringing his hand up to stroke Eren’s face. “ _I’m_ the lucky one.”

 

* * *

 

One of the things Levi disliked about being a high school teacher was that the students took a very long time (in his opinion) to shut up about their weekends. And the fact that most of their conversation was just mindless drabble made his head spin.

He didn’t wait for the students of his third period class to settle down before rapping his meter stick on one of the desks. “I’m not going to wait for you to shut up today, alright?” he said almost angrily.

He was angry that day, but not because of the students. He and Eren had ended up staying up much later than their usual bedtimes, kissing and talking and lazily fucking for hours until they looked at the clock and practically screamed. Levi was always angry when he didn’t get enough sleep; that paired with the fact that he didn’t want to leave he and his fiancé’s bed ( _fiancé, do I really have a fiancé now?_ ) had made him extremely irritable. He had already snapped multiple times at his first two classes of the day, before apologizing and blaming lack of sleep.

Since he actually liked his third period class, he decided to be civil. “Sorry,” he said a bit more quietly. “Anyways, I want you to pair up and talk about something good that happened to you this weekend. French, please. For example-“ He turned to Christa. “Let’s say I was your partner, Christa.”

She looked confused. He had never given examples for their daily conversation exercises. “My partner, Monsieur?”

Levi cracked a smirk. “Not that kind. If I was your partner for this exercise, Christa, I would say-“ He cleared his throat. “Hier, mon conjoint a fêté son 28ème anniversaire. On est resté à la maison toute la journée et on a commandé de la nourriture chinoise pour le dîner. Je lui ai acheté un gâteau et chanté 'joyeux anniversaire'. Puis, on a regardé le même film que nous regardions lorsqu'il m'a demandé d'être son petit ami. Et après ça, je l'ai demandé en mariage.”

The class regarded him with confusion. Levi smirked, before fully smiling and laughing.

“What that means is that yesterday, it was my partner’s 28th birthday. We stayed in the whole day before ordering Chinese for dinner, and I bought him a cake and sang ‘happy birthday’ to him. After, we watched the same movie we had watched the day he asked me to be his boyfriend. And after that-“ Levi paused, smile still stretched across his lips. “I proposed.”

The sound of high-pitched teenage squeals filled the air as he was met with a floodgate of questions.

“Alright, calm down…” He waited for the class to quiet down before speaking again. “He said yes. Now get to those conversations. You have ten minutes.”

The rest of the class passed by quickly, with students occasionally coming up to him during their work time to congratulate him on his engagement. It was nice; they hadn’t had the chance to tell many people yet, so Levi appreciated the comments. Hell, he hadn’t even told Erwin, and they worked together.

Eventually, and far too soon in Levi’s opinion, the third period ended, leading way to Levi’s lunch break, where he was scheduled to look over the cafeteria. It irritated him that he couldn’t find anyone to cover his scheduled cafeteria supervising, but it wasn’t something anyone wanted to do, and so Levi had to begrudgingly accept that. What he really wanted to do was meet Eren somewhere for a quick lunch, which they did sometimes when Eren got an extended lunch break. That wasn’t going to happen obviously, though it would have been nice to see his fiancé for more than just five minutes in the morning before the clock struck 5 PM.

“Monsieur?” He looked up to see Christa standing by the desk. “I would just like to say congratulations.”

“Thank you, Christa.” He cracked a smirk. “It was your… Intervention? I’ll go with that. It was your intervention that even made me consider it, so thank you.”

He finished packing his things into his messenger bag before looking up and receiving a shock. Christa’s eyes were welled with tears, and she smiled as she wiped them before they fell onto her cheeks.

“It’s just…” she said, voice wobbling slightly. “You’re my favourite teacher, Monsieur Levi. And it’s great to see you so happy. And it was because of you and your classes that I realized what I want to do with my life… I want to help people, like you’re helping me and everyone else you teach. So thank you. Again, congratulations.”

Levi was silent, blinking a few times before opening his mouth to speak. “That’s amazing, Christa. Really. You’re a strong girl, you know? Use that to your advantage.” He looked at the clock on the wall quickly before scowling. “I have to go monitor the cafeteria now, but thank you again. I really appreciate it.”

They walked out of the class together, Levi flipping the lights down before closing the door.

 

* * *

 

“Mr. Bossard? Where’s Monsieur Levi?”

Auruo gave the class a smug smirk. “He’ll be away for the next two weeks. That’s all I’m going to tell you brats.”

The new school year had already been in session for a month, so not seeing Levi as their teacher was unnerving to the students. It was rare that he missed a day, and when he did, he was sure to tell his classes in advance. It seemed as though he never got sick; on the rare occasion he did, Miss Ral, another language teacher at the school, would fill in for him. So seeing Mr. Bossard as their substitute wasn’t routine, and that made them nervous.

Christa raised her hand slowly. Auruo glanced at it, and nodded to let her speak. “Is he sick?”

“Like I said, I’m not telling you anything. Figure it out for yourself. Really, you would think you _kids_ would have learned by now.”

Another student raised their hand. “Is he getting married, Mr. Bossard?”

Auruo raised his eyebrows. “At least one of you is smart. Yes, he’s getting married.”

The class started to titter with excitement, and Auruo rapped on the desk a few times with a meter stick to get them to quiet down before grabbing the worksheets Levi had left for them and handing a stack to the students sitting at the front of their line of desks.

“Why weren’t you invited to the wedding, Mr. Bossard?” Christa asked when the worksheets were handed out.

“Well, you see, an insufferable group of inconsiderate brats like you wouldn’t understa-“

He was cut short as his expression twisted painfully. He rushed over the desk, looking around before his expression turned to anger.

“Dah anywah hah a tihue?” he asked.

The class just laughed at him. It seemed that in his stupor, he had bitten his tongue, something he was known to do on occasion when he got a little too cocky. Christa smirked to herself before reaching into her bag, grabbing a pack of tissues and bringing one over to him.

 

* * *

 

They got married in the fall. Perfect, really, since it was their favourite season.

October, and the leaves were falling from the trees in varying shades of red, yellow, orange, all of those colours that are typically associated with the changing of seasons and the welcoming of colder weather.

They had rented an outdoor venue, complete with a field of flowers and gazebo. The path leading up to the gazebo was decorated with leaves and fake vines, twisting and winding their way up the poles of the gazebo and finally settling into a large bouquet in the roof. Eren had made sure that the majority of the leaves in the display were red, due to the significance they had in his heart. Levi had always laughed at him when Eren talked about fate, but Eren truly did believe that the leaf was a significant aspect in their meeting. Levi always insisted, _no, it’s not-_ but he obliged to Eren’s request, secretly thinking that it was significant but never admitting it.

There weren’t any more than 50 people at the wedding. Eren had wanted to invite almost everyone from his graduating class at university, but Levi had put a stop to those thoughts, claiming that it was unnecessary and expensive. _Besides,_ he had said, _don’t you want it to be more intimate?_ Levi had wanted a court-ordained marriage with just the two of them and the Justice of the Peace present, but had given up on those thoughts quickly after Mikasa had yelled at him for not being included.

Now she was the one primping Eren’s hair, tutting her tongue to indicate her annoyance. “You’re 28, Eren. Surely you know what a comb is.”

He shrugged. “I guess I never grew out of being that messy 15 year old, huh?”

“Yeah…” She gave his hair one last strategic ruffle before sitting down next to him, grabbing a tissue from the vanity they were seated at and dabbing at her eyes. “I can’t believe we’re almost 30. Shit, I can’t believe you’re getting _married_ , and I haven’t even been in a relationship for longer than six months.” She gave a weak smile. “Though I’m hoping this one will last.”

“Jean’s an idiot, I don’t know why you actually accepted his pleading after ten years.”

“Probably because I felt bad for him after Marco moved, but honestly, Eren? He’s actually excited to be here. You should have heard him talking about it last night.”

Eren groaned. “Please don’t make me think about Jean, OK? This is _my_ day.”

“I’m just saying.”

Mikasa continued to primp Eren, attending to him in a motherly way before they heard a knock on the door.

“It’s me!”

Mikasa opened the door to let in Armin, who was smiling widely. Eren had chosen Mikasa and Armin to be part of the wedding party as they were the two people who he was closest to. Levi had asked Erwin and Hanji, who were both with him, more than likely doing the exact same thing that Mikasa was doing to Eren.

“They’re ready to start,” Armin said, walking over to Mikasa and Eren.

Eren enveloped them both in a hug. “Feel free to call me a pussy if I start to cry,” he said, grinning.

“I would’ve called you one even if I didn’t have your permission.”

“Oh shut up, Armin.”

They broke free of the hug, Mikasa wiping some hair from Eren’s face. 

“Go get your man,” she said, laughing.

 

* * *

 

“We gather here today to see the union of these two wonderful men.” 

_This is nothing like the practice,_ Eren thought. Already, he felt tears well in his eyes and his hands shake. Already, he had his breath catch in his throat when he saw Levi walk down the aisle. Already, his heart was thumping with the force of a thousand fluttering wings.

Levi kept a firm grip on Eren’s hands, forcing them to calm down as they both looked up at the Justice of the Peace. Neither of them had wanted a religious ceremony, or any emotional attachment to the person marrying them; if they had asked one of their friends, and had a fight with them, it could have been disastrous.

The Justice of the Peace went through the normal procedure before pausing. “Eren and Levi, would you like to recite your vows?”

Eren took a shaky breath in, looking to Levi, who nodded at him to go first. “OK-“ his voice cracked, causing him and everyone else there to laugh. “I wasn’t aware that I was still going through puberty. OK. Levi… I promise to care for you for the rest of our days. I promise to laugh with you, to cry with you, to be with you in times of despair and times of happiness.” He wiped his eyes. “Most of all, I promise to love you. I promise to love you no matter what, whether we fight or laugh or are near or apart. I will love you.”

“Levi?”

Now it was Levi’s hands that shook, a wide-eyed look taking over his whole face. “Fuck. Um. Shit, I shouldn’t have said that- I- Crap.” He put a hand over his mouth, Eren smiling down at him, with happier tears leaking out of his eyes. “Uh. I…” He gulped. “I had a hole in my heart filled when I was 22. Almost ten years later, that hole hasn’t opened again. I hope it never does. Eren, I will care for you as long as I live. I will be there in the mornings, bringing you your coffee because I’m the only one who you like making it-“ The guests laughed again, and Levi wiped Eren’s eyes for him, giving a small smile. “I will celebrate every birthday with you, I will force you to watch those old time movies I like even if you pretend to not like them. I will burn our dinners and order in Chinese instead. I will be the best husband I can be, and I will be yours forever, whether you like or not.”

Warm smiles graced the faces of everyone in attendance, and they waited while Eren forced himself to calm down. Most of the people there knew that Eren tended to be over-emotional, especially when it came to anger, but they hadn’t seen Eren cry this much over one person. Equally surprising was the fact that Levi had broken out into a smile, possibly the first that many of them had seen. Though he wasn’t crying, Levi exuded true happiness, something so out of character for him that the guests were genuinely shocked.

The Justice of the Peace went through the rest of the necessary speeches, asking if anyone objected to Eren and Levi’s union. There was silence. The Justice of the Peace broke out into a smile. “Now, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss your partner.”

Everyone stood up as Eren and Levi pulled each other into a bone-crushing hug, staying like that for a few seconds before breaking apart and pulling each other in for a kiss. Eren felt his breath catch in his throat, and tears fall freely from his eyes and he grasped Levi and kissed him with every single bout of energy he had in him. Levi’s heart fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings, barely containing his happiness as he kissed Eren.

_Husbands. We’re husbands now._

Eventually, they broke apart and leaned their foreheads together, smiling as they hugged once again before breaking apart and grasping each other’s hands. With a slight hesitance, they walked out of the gazebo and back down the aisle, smiling at the applause and cheers they received. Eventually, they made it into the reception room, waiting for a minute before Mikasa, Armin, Erwin and Hanji arrived to whisk them to a private room so that they could be alone for the first time as a married couple.

“Have fun!” Hanji said, pushing them in with a devilish smile on her face.

“We’ll be back in an hour! Remember, condoms are still necessary even if you’re married!”

Levi smirked. “Oh shut up, Erwin.”

“BYE!”

Mikasa and Armin slammed the door shut, and Eren and Levi waited for their giggles to become distant before grabbing at each other, arms wrapping around backs and necks.

“We’re married,” Eren whispered into Levi’s shoulder.

“Yeah. C’mere.”

Levi lifted up Eren’s head, hand resting on Eren’s chin for a moment before bringing him in for a kiss. They stayed attached for what seemed like hours, nothing progressing farther than the simple attachment of the lips. Eventually, they broke apart only to take in air before kissing again, this time with their mouths opening and tongues wrestling together.

Eren was the one to break apart the kiss, taking a deep breath in before hugging Levi again, resting his head in the nook between Levi’s neck and shoulder. “You meant what you said, right?”

“Hmm?” Levi mumbled, stroking Eren’s hair languidly.

“In your vows? When you said you would be mine forever?”

“Of course I meant it.”

They stayed in their position for a while. “I love you, Levi. I think I always have.”

“I love you, too.”

 

* * *

 

“You’re back!”

“Monsieur, how was your wedding? W-“

“Where did you go for your honeymoon? Di-“

“Mr. Bossard was rude to us, Monsieur Levi, we’re so happy-“

“Warn us next time, pl-”

“Calm down!” Levi projected, causing the class to be quiet. “Mr. Bossard wasn’t rude to you, you guys are just sensitive is all.”

“Principal Smith came into class two weeks ago and told us that your wedding was amazing,” Christa said with a smile.

“He was right.”

“He said out of all the years he’s known you, that day was the most he’s seen you smile. And he said you’ve known each other for over 15 years!”

Levi smirked. “He was also right about that. I’m not a monster, I do have emotions once in a while.”

“What was it like?”

Levi sat on his desk, swinging his legs lightly before answering. “We got to the venue around noon, and Eren had already been there for an hour, supposedly. Erwin- sorry, Mr. Smith and my friend Hanji were-“

“You can call him Erwin, it’s not like we didn’t know his first name,” a student cut him off.

“Alright. Erwin and my friend Hanji were my maid of honour and best man, per se. So they took it upon themselves to primp me and make me look, quote unquote, ‘as devilishly handsome as possible,’ in Hanji’s words. Eren’s sister Mikasa and his best friend Armin were his maid of honour and best man, so they did the same thing to him I would assume.

“When it was time for the actual ceremony, Eren walked down the aisle first. He was given away, I suppose, by his sister, since his mother passed and his father couldn’t make it. I came down the aisle next with Erwin and Hanji.”

“What colour was Eren’s suit? And yours?” another student asked.

“Mine was black, Eren’s was dark grey. Anyways, the Justice of the Peace did their whole spiel, we said our vows, and then we were married. At the party, and don’t tell anyone this, Erwin got absolutely _plastered._ ” The class laughed. “He kept on saying how he could fly from tree to tree, he even tried to climb up into the trees surrounding the venue, but we got him down before he could do something stupid like lose his arm or something.

“We went on our honeymoon the day after. Eren didn’t know where we were going, so he was so surprised when he saw the ticket. We went to France for about two weeks, and we actually only got home on Friday. I’m still jetlagged.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Levi hopped down from the desk before strolling over and opening it.

“What are you doing here? Don’t you have work?”

“You forgot your lunch at home, smart one. I don’t have to be in for another hour, so I won’t be able to make it to lunch today.”

Christa craned her neck to see who was at the door, holding in a gasp when she saw the face. She had sneaked looks at Levi’s phone before, so she knew what Eren looked like, but her surprise was genuine as she realized it was Eren who was standing at the door.

“Monsieur Levi, who is that?” a student asked.

Levi smiled, still facing Eren. “Don’t be rude. It’s my husband.”

The class squealed instantaneously, getting up from their desks to swarm Eren, who instantly got flustered. The majority of them didn’t know what Eren looked like, and were surprised when he didn’t match the images they had conjured up in their heads based on Levi’s fleeting descriptions of him.

“How were you let in?” Levi asked Eren quietly, leaning in so his mouth was near Eren’s ear.

“It helps that my husband is best friends with the principal, doesn’t it?” Eren replied. He waited for the students to back off slightly before handing Levi the small, insulated bag. “I made you something, too. Don’t go eating that instant crap you always do, I don’t want your heart failing on me.”

“Fine,” Levi grumbled. “Go to work. I’ll see you later, OK?”

“OK.”

As Eren turned to leave, the class erupted with protests.

“Kiss!” they all seemed to shout.

Eren blushed deeply. “I don’t think that’s really appropriate-“

“We don’t care,” Christa interrupted, laughing. “You’re all he can talk about sometimes, can’t you just appease us?”

Eren laughed before turning to Levi, leaning in and giving him a small peck before leaving.

“Love you!” he called out over his shoulder.

“Love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello so. OK. This took a really long time to write because I'm a full time student with a part time job. But anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed it! This was the first time I've written for an anime fandom, and the first time in a while I wrote smut, much less gay smut, but I hope it's OK. The title is a lyric from the song "Casual Affair" by Panic! At The Disco, though even though this fic is not about an affair, I thought it pertained to the fic. If anyone wants a Mikasa/Jean aside, let me know!
> 
> Also, I have two tumblrs that you can feel free to follow. [daddylazward](http://www.daddylazward.tumblr.com) is my main account, and [i-am-an-evil-witch](http://www.i-am-an-evil-witch.tumblr.com) is my writing account, which is where you can find new fics that I write, updates, original material, etc. 
> 
> EDIT: thank you to RizMayonnaise for giving me the proper French. That was really embarrassing, whoops.


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